Volunteering for them is only natural

Everglades National Park workers enjoy opportunity to help

November 29, 2008|By Mike Clary Staff Writer

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK — Retired Bell South training manager Dick Johnson stood in a remote wilderness campsite earlier this week , aiming the nozzle of a pressure washer at a wooden platform for a tent. A few yards away, his wife, Joyce, was scrubbing picnic tables, preparing for busloads of area elementary school students who soon will begin arriving for two-night stays through the winter.

When Dick Johnson cut the engine to move a hose, silence filled the void, and the former Wilton Manors residents paused to take in their isolated surroundings.

"This is not revolutionary; we're not changing the world," said Johnson, 63. "But we're not making it worse. This is very fulfilling personally."

The Johnsons are Everglades National Park seasonal volunteers, among a wave of retirees who play a growing role in operating the nation's park system as budgets are squeezed.

They also are self-described "rootless vagabonds," who spend the winter months in the Everglades, leaving the heat and mosquitoes in late April to drive their motor home to another national park for a May through September assignment. They recently volunteered as camp hosts at Olympic National Park in northwest Washington.

"We're in perpetual summer," said Dick Johnson, who retired four years ago. "We can go anywhere we want."

Seasonal volunteers get no pay. But there is limited in-park housing available, and those with motor homes get free utilities.

The opportunities are almost endless. There are nearly 400 parks, monuments and recreation areas in the National Park Service, and most welcome volunteers. The park service estimates that 154,000 volunteers performed services worth $92 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2007.

At Everglades National Park, reliance on volunteers of all ages is increasing, according to volunteer coordinator Jackie Dostourian. She estimated that last year 592 volunteers donated 44,194 hours in support of all park operations, including four visitor centers, two campgrounds, 48 backcountry sites and various environmental education programs.

"Over the years we've made an effort to increase volunteerism; we are getting a lot of projects done," said Dostourian. As an example, she cited the reopening last year of the storm-damaged Chekika recreation area, where volunteers cleared trails and painted picnic tables. Park volunteers are not just seniors. School groups, area business employees, service clubs and college students on Spring Break annually come to clean, repair, paint, uproot invasive species and answer visitors' questions.

Outdoors experience is not required. Joyce Johnson, 58, a college philosophy major, was a stay-at-home mother of two, but she shared her husband's love of the Everglades and public service. "When kids are introduced to a place like this, they learn to care," she said. "We see kids who come here for the first time and are a little afraid. But after 48 hours, they don't want to leave."

Of course, natural world expertise is welcome. Volunteer Bill McCreary, 69, taught science for 40 years, the last 28 at Palmetto Senior High School in Miami. He now leads interpretive walks in the park, while his wife, Carol, works in the visitor center. Both are year-round volunteers. "This place is amazing," the Indiana native said the other day before a group of about 30 visitors at the Royal Palm Visitor Center. He described a red mite that only lives in the slime trail of tree snails, the purple gallinule's love of feeding on willow blooms, and the astounding ability of alligators to hold their breath underwater for two hours and go six months without eating.

McCreary then told his listeners that alligators can leap from the water, and pointed to the lake just a few feet away. "I've seen a gator jump up 6 feet to clear that wall and walk right over here," he said as heads turned and eyes widened.

"Where is there a better job?" McCreary said when his talk ended. "I'm still teaching, but no classrooms and no paperwork."

Mike Clary can be reached at mclary@sunsentinel.com or at 305-810-5007.

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

Getting involved

Volunteers in the National Park Service range from grade schoolers to senior citizens.

"A good volunteer is someone who has enthusiasm, and is excited about the park," said Jackie Dostourian, volunteer coordinator at Everglades National Park.

For information about volunteer opportunities in the Everglades, call Dostourian at 305-242-7752. For information about volunteer openings in all national parks, go to nps.gov/volunteer